Baby bumps on parade! This past summer, several major bold-faced names -- with Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian and Kate Middleton leading the pack -- were pregnant with child. In a recent interview, Simpson, 33, tells Us Weekly exclusively that she truly empathized with what first-time mom Kardashian, 32, was going through when the media criticized the reality star's weight gain.

"I felt for Kim -- I knew exactly what she was going through," Simpson said. The Fashion Star mentor was often ridiculed for her own growing curves when she pregnant with daughter Maxwell, 15 months. "I send a lot of love her way, and I know she'll come back with a bang."

"Kate Middleton was glowing throughout her pregnancy," she said. "A lot of pregnant moms were looking at her like, 'How do you do that?!'"

"I am definitely one of those pregnant women who just gains a lot of weight," she continued. "I have really big boobs, I have my curves and I just gain weight. I can't help it. …It's been six weeks since I've had my baby now, and I feel great. …It's okay to gain weight, and it will always come off."

Middleton, 31, stepped out in Anglesey, Wales, on Monday, Aug. 26, just over a month after giving birth to son Prince George. And, enviably, the Duchess of Cambridge has "hardly done anything" to lose the baby weight.

"She's not dieting," a Middleton family source told Us. "After giving birth, she did continue with her yoga."